Revealed

Some readers may know that, over the past couple of months, I've been working on an RPG background/ruleset. I started doing this for a couple of reasons, the mainmost one being that I wanted to play something other than Shadowrun every now and again, especially after the intensive GMing I'd been doing over the months beforehand and both my players and I being sceptical about the new rules edition due out later this year.

I decided I wanted a cyberpunk-style game, but not set too far in the future that modern technology would have been rendered obsolete. I wanted a cybernetic edge, but I didn't want to have a huge set of rules necessary to make it usable. I wanted to use the Silhouette Core rules system for its speed of play and its emphasis on cinematic action, but I wanted to give my players plenty of choice and freedom in how to play. And so I set about creating a world I liked.

What I came up with took the modern world and gave it a bit of a shake, threw in some nanites and mecha, sprayed it black and chrome and gave it a bit of an anime feel. So far I think it's going well- and all that's really left to do before it's play-ready is work up an equipment catalogue and write datasheets for a few paramilitary vehicles. Here's a bit of a teaser-databurst to give a little more info...

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REVELATION 13
‘…And they worshipped the Beast, saying “Who is like the Beast? Who is able to make war with him?”’

Welcome to the year 2017. This is the panorama of the endtimes, where shadowy multinational agencies deploy commandos for corporate espionage, where nanomachines flow in our veins to either make us superhuman or tear us apart from the inside, where political activists make their policies heard with the chatter of weapons-fire, where artificial intelligences are an endangered species denied the right to exist. And you’re in the thick of it, working for any number of monolithic organisations with carefully-hidden agendas. You’re armed to the teeth with blades, guns, explosives and powered battlesuits, but it may not matter a damn- the most dangerous weapon in the world today is information...

Revelation 13 is an RPG setting using the Silhouette Core rules system, placing players into a nightmare near-future where nanotechnology has gone rampant and information is the most precious commodity on sale. From the dark rabbit-warren alleys of Shanghai’s New Island Slums to the glittering arcologies of Olympus City, from the nanoplague-contaminated ruins of Old Seattle to the scorching heat of the North African Contested Zones, powerful organisations clash in a silent, hidden conflict with each other and the very nature of mankind.

Themes: Governmental corruption/decay, rise in corporate power, nanotech gone rampant, secret societies manipulating current events, invisible conflicts fought on a global scale, technology-based terrorism, emergent intelligences testing exactly what it means to be human.

Inspirational Material:
Video Games: Beneath A Steel Sky; Deus Ex I/II; Oni; Soldier Of Fortune II; System Shock II
Anime/Manga: Armitage III; Appleseed; Dominion; Full Metal Panic; Gasaraki; Ghost In The Shell; Zaion
Books: Neuromancer/Count Zero/Mona Lisa Overdrive; Virtual Light/Idoru/All Tomorrow’s Parties (William Gibson); Snow Crash; The Diamond Age (Neal Stephenson)
Movies & TV: Blade Runner; Enemy Of The State; Hard Boiled; James Bond series; Johnny Mnemonic; Kiss Of The Dragon, Mission Impossible; The Rock; Sneakers; Spy Game; xXx
Real-World: Kowloon Walled City
Other RPGs: CP2020; Jovian Chronicles; Shadowrun
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If everything goes to plan, I hope to finalise the rules and suchlike over the next couple of weeks, so that I can get a printed copy of everything before I leave this job. After that, it'll be time for a little playtesting, methinks... :D

Once the rules are done, it'll all be converted to PDF and put up on EighthAngel as well, just for a good measure- so if you like what you see here, watch this space for the rest...